The beginning of the goodbyes...

This past week has been an emotional one as I've spent the majority of it saying my first goodbyes in my final "goodbye" classes with each of my 4th and 6th grade classes and also my 1st and 2nd grade afterschool class. Despite how ready I am to leave the job, and the school to a certain degree, saying those goodbyes was really difficult for me. I will miss the children, my co-teachers and my other friends at the school dearly and I was completely overwhelmed with the send off they gave me. We had goodbye parties with each class and they ate food, listened to music and wrote messages for me and at the end of each class we had a group photo together. Some of the students went the extra mile and wrote their own personal letters at home and some even gave me gifts. It was really touching and there were a lot of tears.

After spending the last two years worrying that I'd not been able to build the strong teacher-pupil relationships that I'm used to due to the language barrier and only seeing them once or twice a week, this week has reassured me that I have done a good job with these kids and they've enjoyed having me as their teacher and they will miss me. I believe that I've achieved everything that I set out to as an English teacher in Korea. My main aim was to show these children that English doesn't have to be a scary thing and that it can be a lot of fun if they relax and stop worrying so much about making mistakes. I wanted to encourage them to speak as much as possible, to build their confidence, to not be afraid and to make it clear to them that having a go and trying their best is the most important thing. They've come on leaps and bounds during my time at the school and I only hope that they remember everything I've taught them and approach English in the future with confidence and willingness and as a result have a lifetime of opportunities ahead of them. I'm so proud of them and I'm going to miss them very much. :')